Redlands city employees made sacrifices

I take offense to Pat Gilbreath's statement regarding her perception of the use of city funds. Ms. Gilbreath states of the City Council, "They certainly need to work on the employee contracts, but they need to make a statement that any new income that comes in is for infrastructure and roads. The first thing they did when they had a little extra is put employees back full time." ("3 target 2 seats on council," Aug. 11).

Four years ago, city employees voluntarily and outside of contract negotiations agreed to take furloughs for one year. This meant that all employees took 80 hours off without pay. The furlough program continued for another three years, totaling four years and 320 unpaid hours per employee. The employees agreed to this drastic measure to avoid layoffs and to assist the city during dire financial times.

In addition, some employee units have forgone raises for over four years. The employees felt that as civil servants, we should do what we can for the good of the city and the taxpayers.

I would like to ask Ms. Gilbreath is she or anyone else she knows ever took off two weeks over a year without pay to assist their employer during hard financial times. I highly doubt it.

Now that the city is back on solid financial footing, the employees rightfully have returned to their normal working schedule, with full pay. According to Ms. Gilbreath, the approximately 475 employees of the city should pay the cost of paving the city streets to the benefit of the over 72,000 residents plus business owners and visitors. This makes no financial sense.